By a 50-8 margin, the House passed HB2543 yesterday afternoon. HB2543 is the list of Greater Arizona regional priority transportation projects seeking State General Fund revenues. The bill moves on to the Senate where it will likely be assigned to the Transportation & Technology and Appropriations committees and considered the week of March 20th.

The bill sponsor, Representative Tim Dunn of Yuma and the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chair, David Cook of Globe did a tremendous job of navigating the bill through the House. Representative Myron Tsosie of Chinle was also very helpful as he spoke on the House Floor in favor of the bill expressing his appreciation for the efforts to include the needs of the Navajo Nation in the legislation.

It is not too early to contact the members of the Senate Transportation & Technology and Appropriations committees to urge them to support the bill. The members are:

SENATE TRANSPORTATION & TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE

Senator David Farnsworth (Chair) dfarnsworth@azleg.gov (602) 926-3387

Senator Frank Carroll (Vice-Chair) fcarroll@azleg.gov (602) 926-3249

Senator Rosanna Gabaldon rgabaldon@azleg.gov (602) 926-3424

Senator Theresa Hatathlie thatathlie@azleg.gov (602) 926-5160

Senator Jake Hoffman jake.hoffman@azleg.gov (602) 926-3292

Senator Anthony Kern akern@azleg.gov (602) 926-3497

Senator Christine Marsh cmarsh@azleg.gov (602) 926-3184

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

Senator John Kavanagh (Chair) jkavanagh@azleg.gov (602) 926-5170

Senator Jake Hoffman (Vice-Chair) jake.hoffman@azleg.gov (602) 926-3292

Senator Lela Alston lalston@azleg.gov (602) 926-5829

Senator Ken Bennett kbennett@azleg.gov (602) 926-5874

Senator Eva Diaz eva.diaz@azleg.gov (602) 926-3473

Senator David Farnsworth dfarnsworth@azleg.gov (602) 926-3387

Senator Brian Fernandez bfernandez@azleg.gov (602) 926-3098

Senator Anthony Kern akern@azleg.gov (602) 926-3497

Senator Sine Kerr skerr@azleg.gov (602) 926-5955

Senator Raquel Teran rteran@azleg.gov (602) 926-3308

Also, the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee discussed yesterday a "strike everything" amendment to SB1246, which would authorize Maricopa County to take to its voters an extension of the County's regional one-half cent transportation sales tax which is currently set to expire after 2024. The region developed a plan last year which was backed by legislation vetoed by Governor Ducey. There continues to be a wide gulf between that plan and many legislators this session particularly over the level of funding that would be authorized for public transportation. Stakeholders are expected to continue discussing and the Committee Chairman, Representative Cook, plans to vote on the bill at the Committee's scheduled meeting on March 22nd.

An updated transportation bill matrix and an updated list of projects in HB2543 which now includes projects amended on to the bill are attached.